KABUL - Meshrano Jirga or Senate members on Sunday stressed unity among tribes, asking the government to punish those involved in the killing of 33 civilians in Ghor province.
Local officials in Ghor province last week said 33 civilians were killed by Islamic State (IS) or Daesh militants. The IS group later claimed responsibility of the massacre.
Senator Mohammad Alam Izdyar from Panjsher province told today’s session they hoped security organs would arrest the perpetrators of the incident and award them severe punishment.
He called on influential figures in Ghor province to avoid associating the massacre to a particular ethnicity.
Lawmaker Daud Ghafari from Ghor province said: “Criminals in the name of Daesh and Taliban killed a large number of civilians including children last week in Ghor.”
He linked insecurity in Ghor to a limited number of security forces there and said: “If the government does not take this issue serious and does not act against hideouts of criminals in Ghor, more such incidents are expected.”
Another Senator Abdul Baqi Baryal condemned the killing of civilians in Ghor and asked the organs concerned to identify the murderers and severely punish them.
The government should take care of such incidents because the enemies wanted to create divisions among Afghans, he said.
Meshrano Jirga chairman, Fazal Hadi Muslimyar, said: “The Ghor incident is painful for all Afghans. The enemies of our country want to create tribal and religious differences among people by perpetrating such barbaric attacks.”
Muslimyar urged the people not to allow such ominous plans to succeed because enemies of Afghanistan killed innocent people in most areas of the country for creating differences among communities.
Muslimyar asked security organs to prevent such incidents from recurring.
A number of senators expressed concern over the extension in Daesh activities to other parts of the country.
Rona Tarin, a representative from Kandahar province, said she was worried about the presence of Daesh militants in Pachiragam district of Nangarhar province and asked the government to take a decisive action against the outfit.
If Daesh operations were not curbed in-time in Pachiragam, the group would expand its presence to other areas too, she said.
Deputy Meshrano Jirga head, Najiba Hussaini, also expressed concern over increasing presence of Daesh in Nangarhar but said: “We would not allow Afghanistan to become a second Syria.”
Calling Daesh, Al Qaeda and Taliban as international projects, she said the government should stop the groups from shedding Afghan bloods.
However, Meshrano Jirga chairman, Fazal Hadi Muslimyar, said that operations to clear Pachiragam from Daesh were underway.
The nation was ready to closely stand with the government in the fight against insurgent groups, he said. (Pajhwok)